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<br />Minutes - Lexington Town Tree Committee <br />May 13, 2004 @ 7:30 AM <br />Town Office Building: Rm. 111 <br /> <br />Attendance: J. Frey, J. Jones, K. Longeteig, D. Pinsonneault, A. Senning, S. Solomon, N. Walker, J. Krieger (Selectman <br />Representative), Steven Ervin (Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard Univ. & Lexington resident - invited to share his <br />experience with tree inventory procedures) and Sherri Brockoff and Brian Bean (Vista volunteer) from the Urban Forest Institute <br />[UFI has a grant for establishing tree inventory programs for Boston and Cambridge.] <br /> <br />1. Minutes of the April 8 meeting were approved as amended. <br /> <br />2. Tree Inventory Issues: <br /> On April 29, 2004, a subcommittee (J. Frey, A. Senning, S. Solomon and J. Wood) of the Lexington Tree Committee had visited <br />the Boston College office of the UFI to evaluate the potential for a partnership. <br /> <br /> <br /> their customized software that is being used for the tree inventory programs. The UFI <br />UFI demonstrated hardware (PDAs) and <br />software is easily customizable, as opposed to the Univ. Massachusetts (Amherst) package. <br /> <br /> UFI would like to be written into Lexington's DEM grant application (due June 30, 2004). <br /> <br /> Some Questions: Would software licenses of $50/ unit be available? <br /> Who would own the software? <br /> How often can our updates be made and accessed? <br /> <br />3. Town Personnel Involvement: <br /> Wayne Brooks (Mgr. Operations/Hwy. Supervisor), Peter Karalexis (Engineering Div.) and Connie Rawson (MIS Mgr.) Joined <br />the meeting at 8:30 to present information on the Town GIS system. <br /> <br /> P. Karalexis reported that that ~ 80% of the assessors maps have been converted from AutoCad to ARC format. The maps include <br />waterways, sidewalks, sewers, manholes and storm drains in addition to numbered house lots and buildings (utility poles and wires <br />are not included). About 700 man hours are needed to complete the conversion. The map database requires significant upkeep. <br /> <br /> C. Rawson would accept responsibility for integration of the tree inventory into the Town's GPS system. <br /> <br />4. Community Forest Partnership Mission: <br /> UFI has contracts to survey forests in the metropolitan Boston area. Their software provides 4 map layers (tree species, size, <br />location and condition) of information. <br /> <br /> The Univ. Massachusetts has a package, available at no charge, that also uses PDAs. This package has been found to be difficult <br />to use. <br /> <br /> C. Rawson and A. Senning will evaluate the competing systems . <br /> <br />5. Rindge Park: <br /> Planting was done May 1 from 8 to 11 AM by neighbors and the Town DPW. It was completed. A watering schedule has been <br />posted on the Rindge Park web site. A Senning circulated 'before and after' photographs. <br /> <br />6. Tree Manual: <br /> Several request, from other communities, for Tree Manuals and by-law passage strategies have been received. It was voted to <br />send free Manual copies to appropriate entities and offer assistance as possible. <br /> <br />7. Reminder:D. Pinsonneault has 2 'Tree City USA' banners with 15 year tags to be displayed on appropriate occasions. <br /> <br />8. Tree Removals: 176 calls, 240 removals, 521 replacements and 84 completed <br /> <br />9. Fee Discussi <br />on: postponed. <br /> <br />Meeting adjourned at 10:00 AM. <br /> <br />Next meeting: Thursday, June 10, 2004 at 7:30 AM in Rm. 111, Town Office Bldg. <br /> <br /> Respectfully submitted: <br /> Susan Snell Solomon <br /> <br />